Taylor and Kristen Wilkerson, and the amazing work they are doing in Harlem, were recently featured in an article on in PE News. The article, “A Heart for Harlem” tells the story of Taylor and Kristen’s journey as they work to bring Peace to a hurting community.

September 5, 2017

Peacemakers cares for our community, and we are working with local agencies to make sure we are prepared to help meet any needs caused by HURRICANE IRMA. The Trinity Church campus has been an American Red Cross Emergency Shelter for all types of natural disasters since Spring 2011. Through our Memorandum of Understanding with the American Red Cross (ARC), our facility in Miami Gardens will be activated as an Emergency Shelter under the direction of the ARC.

During an emergency, the American Red Cross has primary responsibility for the operation of the Emergency Shelter and will designate an ARC official as the shelter manager to manage the sheltering activities. ALL emergency supplies will be distributed by the American Red Cross when the Emergency Shelter is activated.

We want to make sure you know where you can go for assistance. To find an emergency shelter site closest to your home, please check with your county’s Office of Emergency Management for a complete listing of emergency shelters. When our site has been activated, it will be included on the Miami-Dade County list.

In addition to our designation as an ARC Emergency Shelter Site, we also have a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) ready to be deployed by the Miami-Dade County Office of Emergency Management. This amazing team of Servant Leaders has received extensive training in how to assist people during a natural disaster. Our CERT team is preparing now to be deployed, as necessary. We are ready to help!

Here is a summary of the items your family needs to have on hand NOW in your family’s disaster supply kit:

Water – 1 gallon per person per day for at least 3-7 days

Non-Perishable Food Items

Flashlight with extra batteries

Emergency radio

First Aid Kit

For a complete list of emergency items, please go to floridadisaster.org. This site includes a complete list for your disaster supply kit and additional important information. For evacuation orders and closures, go to miamidade.gov/emergency/ .

How can we nurture middle and high school students to develop these five attributes and inspire them to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset? After spending the last six weeks with the youth in the GENERATION2050 Summer Youth Enrichment Program, I believe I have learned a few things about developing these attributes:

1. Encourage trying something new.

We provided a number of opportunities to take risks and try something new. One completely new experience our students had was learning about urban beekeeping and working with honeybees. Over the course of five weeks of classes, fifteen of our students passed a written and practical beekeeping exam. They were then able to assist Michele and I in our monthly hive inspections.

2. Start a mindfulness practice.

We partnered with Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine NeighborhoodHELP program to provide mindfulness practice training. Students learned a number of mindfulness practices including mindful eating, the “drop-in” meditation, and how to practice gratitude. In addition, they learned the basics of brain development in teens. A number of our students noted mindfulness practice as their most important class this summer because they learned how their brain works and how to : 1) focus on the present and 2) focus on the task at hand.

3. Provide challenging learning opportunities.

Our core curriculum for the summer was the The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Biz Camp Curriculum. Our students learned how to develop a business idea, conduct market research, identify potential competition, establish a pricing structure for their product or service, describe how their business would be socially responsible, and develop a 30 second elevator speech, as well as other important business concepts.

4. Engage all the senses.

Listening to a lecture is not always an effective learning style for all students. So, we provided instruction in multiple learning environments, utilizing all of the senses. During Foodie Fridays, students learned to prepare nutritious meals from scratch with Master Chefs, Donna Caudill and Grace Low. Last Friday, the GENERATION2050 Boomers Team created a mediterranean inspired meal of hummus, tzatziki sauce, baba ganoush, Greek salad, chicken shish kebobs, roasted potatoes, and lemon cupcakes.

We worked with our hands in the urban garden, planting new crops of vegetables, identifying insect pests and implementing natural pest control methods, and enriching the soil with nutrients.

Finally, we did not ignore the importance of physical fitness. Three days a week, we participated in diverse exercise styles with certified instructors. The students especially enjoyed Zumba class with Fit Sisters Miami. Take a look at this routine the kids learned at the end of Zumba class last Friday:

I believe this set of diverse activities and experiences provided GENERATION2050 participants with catalysts to ignite development of the attributes of an entrepreneurial mindset.

Typically when someone mentions STEM education, computer coding and robotics are the core of the conversation. However, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education encompasses a vast array of topics. I have learned, this summer, how little young adults know about the wonders of STEM.

On the first day of GENERATION2050 summer camp, many of the students were skeptical about working in the garden. Most were terrified of bees. Some even told me that they hated science and math classes. Their looked so surprised when I told them if they didn’t like math and science they clearly couldn’t understand how amazing they were. Our bodies, alone, are miracles described by chemistry, biology, physics, and math!

Since those first few days of camp, GENERATION2050 students have learned concepts in math, chemistry, biology, botany, entomology, and soil science in the classroom and in Trinity Church’s Urban Garden. Nine of the students have successfully passed a beekeeping written and practical exam, so far.

We asked a few of the Beekeeping 101 graduates how they felt about working with the bees and the prospect of becoming a beekeeping apprentice. This is what they had to say:

“To be honest in the beginning, I never cared about bees, but as I learn in GENERATION2050 bees are very important to the world and we need them. So now, I see bees in a whole different way. So now when I think about being an apprentice, you can call me anytime. I would love to do it.” ~ Destiny

“Beekeeping makes me feel courageous. I used to be scared and run. Now I feel comfortable around them because I learned so much. I feel good about having the opportunity to be an apprentice because it can become a job and I can create a business and continue learning about bees.” ~ Jasmine

“I feel like I have taken another step in my life. Bees scared me. I used to smack them away.
I never thought bees could be that nice to you. So being an apprentice makes me happy.” ~ Patrick

“Bees are like people. If you’re not careful, the bees will get aggravated. But if you treat them like they are family, you will be alright. Being an apprentice is an opportunity I thought I would never get.
I am very appreciative to my teachers and people who supported me.” ~ Donald

“Beekeeping makes me feel like I am doing something to improve or help the environment. It makes me feel like I am a part of something bigger then myself. I would love the opportunity to be an apprentice because it would give me more hands on expertise with the bees. It’ll give me closer connection to them and help me to understand how they function. Before coming into close, personal contact with the bees, I was afraid of what it would feel like to have them crawl on me. Now that I have been able to touch the bees and look at them at a level other than just seeing them in videos or pictures, I feel more connected to them and comfortable around them.” ~ Asya

“Going into the hive today was like entering another world. The bees have their own system completely different from ours. Taking into consideration that we do depend on each other, takes you down a peg in a good way. Being a beekeeping apprentice is a wonderful opportunity that I could have in order to enter each of these tiny different worlds and learn.” ~ Jaylin

I think exploring in the garden has given these GENERATION2050 students have a new appreciation for STEM!

“Social responsibility is an ethical theory, in which individuals are accountable for fulfilling their civic duty; the actions of an individual must benefit the whole of society. In this way, there must be a balance between economic growth and the welfare of society and the environment.” ~ Pachamama Alliance

On the first day of the GENERATION2050 Summer Youth Enrichment Program, one of the students remarked, “I already know everything this program is about: “Believe in yourself, work hard, don’t give up, you can be whatever you want to be…I’ve heard all of it before.” His statement made me sad, but determined to teach the students that leadership is more than knowing the right slogans. I want them to understand GENERATION2050 leadership includes being socially responsible. In fact, I am determined that they not only learn how to be a socially responsible entrepreneurial leader, I want them to see the concepts in action and begin to implement them in their own lives.

During The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) class last week, the students were introduced to the concept of social responsibility. Social responsibility was a new concept for many. They were instructed to include a section in their business plans describing how their business will be socially responsible. In addition to the NFTE curriculum, we are introducing the students to local, socially responsible entrepreneurs.

We traveled to Robert is Here, the South Florida landmark fruit stand, and spoke to Brandon. Brandon is the son of the Robert of Robert is Here. Brandon’s father started the fruit stand on the corner in front of his house when he was six years old, in response to his family’s financial need. Fifty-seven years later, Robert is Hereconsists of over twenty acres of prime agricultural property in Homestead, Florida, a South Florida tourist destination and profitable fruit stand. Brandon explained that they do not throw any fruit or vegetables grown on their farm land into the garbage: what doesn’t sell at the fruit stand, they turn into smoothies, shakes, jams, jellies, or preserves. They also provide fruit and vegetables to local food banks and churches that feed those in need.

Brandon walked us to a fallow farm field to explain some concepts of environmental sustainability to our group. He explained how his family has cared for their farm land over three generations with environmental sustainability and conservation in mind.

We are also teaching hands-on social responsibility in our urban gardening and urban beekeeping classes. Recently, we have been focusing on the use of chemicals in our everyday lives from soap to pharmaceuticals to pesticides. How do chemicals make our lives better? How can chemicals, like pesticides, have a negative impact on our environment? We have discussed how pesticides are negatively impacting the honeybee population worldwide.

Our GENERATION2050 urban gardening instructor, Mrs. Williams, has been teaching the students alternative, natural methods to protect the fruit and vegetable plants from insect and animal pests. Over the course of the summer, the students are implementing what they learn with their own hands in the urban garden.

The a small group of students will assist Michele and I in their first hands-on bee hive inspection. One of the students assisting us will be the young man I quoted at the beginning of this article. In spite of his first day’s comments, he has been finding out that there is a lot to learn about leadership, entrepreneurship, and social responsibility.

Between NFTE classes, interacting with successful, socially responsible entrepreneurs, and hands-on activities, I believe we are encouraging these students to become socially responsible, entrepreneurial leaders.

Six months ago, I had a big idea to start a summer program for underresourced, underprivileged, urban middle and high school students focused on entrepreneurship, environmental conservation, personal leadership, and community service. I titled itGENERATION2050. Some people were skeptical when I described the program concept to them. Some even wondered out loud if the program was too ambitious and too intense for youth I was targeting. Their skepticism made me more determined to find a way for my idea to come to life this summer.

With the help of some good friends, collaborative partners, and funding from The Children’s Trust, GENERATION2050 began on June 5, 2017 with a cohort of 50 middle and high school students. Over the last two weeks, GENERATION2050 youth have been gaining skills in:

2. Self-Leadership. GENERATION2050 youth are learning how to avoid at-risk behaviors that could endanger their health and their future plans from PlanBe__ program staff.

3. Urban Gardening/Urban Beekeeping. They have been learning the basic biology and chemistry behind urban gardening and urban beekeeping, and how our actions are intersecting with global environmental conservation efforts. They have also been enjoying putting their learning into practice in Trinity Church’s Urban Garden.

4. Mindfulness.Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine NeighborhoodHELP program are teaching the students mindfulness practices to enhance their capacity to focus, as well as practice gratitude and compassion.

Have you ever had a very big, ambitious idea? I have learned every big, ambitious idea requires the support of leaders who will inspire and support you to bring the idea to life. Here are a few of my leader-friends who helped me bring GENERATION2050 to life:

Our Peacemakers Family is AMAZING! Thank you to you for being a part of it. We are each blessed to be a member of a community blessed with so many caring, generous individuals who truly believe in our vision and mission.

It takes all of us working together, praying together, and financially supporting the church together to fulfill our mission of reaching out to our community. I have faith that Jesus is going to do MIRACULOUS works through the Peacemakers Family in 2017!
“Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed.” (Deut. 16:16)

Will you consider a special Passover gift this year? This special “outreach” gift will help us “win the lost” through outreaches!

Many of our outreaches take place in the summer, which is a slower time financially. To help even out the financial needs for our major outreaches, we set aside the gifts from Passover to fund vital events such as our eight weeks of Summer Blast Daycamps.

Our Daycamps reach nearly 500 students, ages 5 to 14, five days a week. We also reach their extended families when they see positive changes in the children and attend the special programs and performances. Your donation is helping us reach thousands each week! We also use the funds for our our Back to School program, and our many other outreaches to the children and families of our community.

God has a plan for each of us, and we are blessed beyond measure when we agree with and work toward His plan. Part of His plan for each of us is reaching out to others and bringing them the message of Jesus’ sacrifice and love, a message that will change their lives forever.

Passover and Easter remind us of the amazing and miraculous sacrifice God made for each of us when He saved us from our sins by allowing the sacrifice of His only Son. That, my friend, is TRUE Love, a love that truly changed everything!

Passover retells the story of how God spared His people from death in Egypt. To rescue His people from slavery, God took the lives of all the firstborn Egyptian males, but He passed over the Israelites’ homes that had the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their door frames.

The blood of the Passover lamb foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He passes over the sins of each person who repents, sparing each of us from eternal death. His sacrifice changes our futures by giving us the chance to live with Him for eternity.

Christ is the true Passover Lamb.
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:7-8).

Passover is an event we are supposed to share with others, a part of our outreach to our community. I want to urge you to pray about how Jesus is calling you to reach out to our community, how He is calling you to Change the future of so many amazing children and families. Your Passover gift will truly CHANGE LIVES!

Can we pray with you regarding any special needs you have this Passover Season? If so, please email us at peacemakers@peacemakers.com or call us at (786) 888-PRAY (7729).

Thank you, friend, for helping us reach out and “win the lost” for Jesus!
You are part of our Passover and Easter miracle!

After a very busy weekend at Trinity Church’s Girlfriends Conference 2017, I got on an airplane and flew out to Walla Walla, Washington with my friends, professional chefs, Donna Caudill and Grace Low to visit Monteillet Fromagerie. Founded by Pierre-Louis and Joan Monteillet 20 years ago, Monteillet Fromagerie was the first farmstead artisanal cheese facility in the Walla Walla Valley of Southeastern Washington.

This visit is the first stop on our journey to Cambodia this month to continue work on the Eco-farming project with Cambodian Care Ministries. I met Joan Monteillet by phone in September 2016 after returning from Cambodia. I was trying to connect with someone who could teach us more about goat farming and making goat cheese. Joan and her husband, Pierre-Louis took an interest in our Cambodia project and offered to give us an intensive class in cheesemaking, focusing on low-tech techniques we can use in rural Cambodia.

Cheesemaking is an art and a science. I’m not much of a cook but I do understand science. So much of what we learned yesterday from pasteurizing to adding enzymes to filling the molds reminded of my days in chemical engineering classes/lab. There is so much biology and chemistry embedded in the cheesemaking process.

Did I mention animal husbandry? We are making cheese from a blend of goat milk and sheep milk. If the animals are not healthy, the milk won’t be good and the cheese won’t be good either. Joan and Pierre-Louis have spent a lot of time talking to us about the animals and how they take care of them. It’s just plain honest, hard work filled with their love of farming.

The art of cheesemaking is a creative process of perfecting the flavor, texture, and presentation of the cheese. During our break time yesterday, we sampled a variety of Monteillet Fromagerie’s cheeses. We tried to decide which was our favorite, but couldn’t.

Everything we ate was amazing. I hope this visit to Monteillet Farm is just our first! I think we have made life-long friends in Joan and Pierre-Louis who will continue to encourage in our work in Cambodia.

By the way, here is a short video produced by Trinity Church for the Girlfriends Conference summarizing the ideas behind my work in Cambodia and at home with the Trinity Urban Garden and urban beekeeping:

2016 was an amazing year filled with new ideas, opportunity, adventure, and victory, as well as unexpected challenges and disappointments. Yet, throughout the year, God continued to provide a clear thread of hope, goodness, and powerful collaboration with both old and new partners.

Some of the highlights of this year include the growth of the Children of Inmates program, an August 2016 mission trip to Cambodia, joining the Board of Directors of Map International, and becoming a certified beekeeper.

Children of Inmates has completed its 470th Bonding Visit to a Florida Department of Corrections Correctional Institution since its inception ten years ago. More than 3,500 different children with an incarcerated parent have participated in the program and currently 2,000 families representing nearly 2,000 inmates are active in COI. The photo below was taken during the COI Holiday Bonding Visit I participated in last week. Over the week, approximately 1,000 family members traveled with our COI team across the State of Florida to visited incarcerated parents for the holidays. COI continues to be a labor of love and hope in my life.

Our Cambodian Mission Team’s August 2016 mission trip was epic! Our team served 600 children and adults over a six day period at our mobile medical clinics through our partnership with Cambodian Care Ministries. While the mobile medical clinics operated, we washed 480 children’s feet, cleaned their wounds, and fitted them with a new pair of shoes from The Shoe That Grows. We also purchased goats for the Cambodian Care Eco-Farming Project. The work our teams have undertaken with Cambodian Care Ministries over the last three years will continue to grow and expand in 2017.

An unexpected blessing in 2016 was the invitation to join the Board of Directors of MAP International. MAP International is non-profit organization recognized by Forbes Magazine, Charity Navigator, the Better Business Bureau, and CNBC, and many others. MAP is known for is efficiency and effectiveness. For every dollar donated, $60 in medicines and medical supplies is given to those in need. Our Cambodia Mission Teams have utilized MAP medications in our mobile medical clinics in August 2015 and August 2016. In the photo below, one of our Nurse Practitioners is unpacking our MAP medications in a small village near the Mekong River.

And finally in 2016, my passion for developing a sustainable eco-farming program in rural Cambodia led me to register for a certified beekeepers course in October. In this photo below, I am walking with my instructor to take the practical portion of the certified beekeepers course final. During this part of the exam, I had to “teach” my instructor, Dan Novak, how to inspect a colony of bees. I am happy to report that both my intern, Michele, and I passed the final exam. I am looking forward to how God will continue to weave the threads of hope I have experienced in 2016 into 2017.

This year has flown by, and we feel so blessed that you have shared your time, prayers, and resources with Peacemakers as we work to reach out to the children and families in Miami. We are determined to make a difference in the lives of the children who live in poverty in our community. No child should ever have to do without food, shelter, or safety or worry about what their life will be like in the next few days. You can help us change their lives!

It’s easy for each of us to say child poverty is an important issue. It is easy to promise to help and to show our concern, but what really matters is what we do about it. Your support is vital to the children in Miami. In every school class of 30 children in our community, 18 live in poverty. Your support throughout the year helps us provide these precious children of God with clothing, school supplies, and educational services.

Children are a heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3).

The holiday season, which should be a time of celebration and joy, can be especially difficult for these children. More than 60% of the children in Miami-Dade County live in deep poverty. The families of those children will have to choose between celebrating Christmas this year and heating their home or putting food on the table.

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Mark 10:14).

Child poverty in America is exploding. The statistics are devastating. You help us fight against these statistics in Miami-Dade County with your financial and prayer support.

45 percent of all U.S. children belong to low income families.

65 percent of all children in America are living in a home that receives some form of aid from the federal government.

An astounding 45 percent of all African-American children in America live in areas of “concentrated poverty.”

40.9 percent of all children in the United States that are living with only one parent are living in poverty.

Right now 49 million Americans are dealing with food insecurity.

The number of homeless children in the United States has reached a new all-time high of 2.5 million.

Your donation will help us provide children with Love, Hope, and Peace this Christmas!

We are holding our annual 1000 Gifts for 1000 Kids campaign this month. Our goal is to make sure 1,000 of these precious children receive a gift that would otherwise be unattainable. Will you help us make it a success?

This Christmas, will you share the Love of Jesus with a child living in poverty? Let’s make sure ALL children count this Christmas.

Your gift of:

$25 provides a gift for 1 child
$50 provides a gift for 2 children
$75 provides a gift for 3 children
$100 provides a gift for 4 children

We work together year round to fight the staggering poverty these children face every day. Let’s take time this month to give them the Christmas season they deserve!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Cor. 9:15)

We want to support you during this busy season as you support the children and families in our community. Can we pray for you this month? If you have a prayer need, please let us know by filling in the form included with this letter, or call us at (786) 888-PRAY (7729).

We truly appreciate your faithful support to our ministry. As you are finalizing your finances for 2016, would you please consider an extra year-end gift? As you know, we are working hard to reach the children and families in our community, and your financial support makes that possible. Our goal is to grow so we can fulfill our mandate to take the message of Jesus out to the world. Your gift can help us reach that goal faster.

We would like to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas season and a happy New Year. May Jesus richly bless you this season and throughout the coming new year.